White House announces DOGE is canceling payments to Politico
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on Wednesday that Politico has been receiving funds from the U.S. government that will dry up as President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cracks down on spending.
Leavitt was asked about reports that "media outlets" will be impacted by Elon Musk’s plan to cut funding for U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Politico received at least $8.2 million from the U.S. government in recent years, with $44,000 of that coming from USAID, according to USAspending.gov.
"Upon coming out here to the briefing room, I was made aware of the funding from USAID to media outlets, including Politico, who I know has a seat in this room, and I can confirm that the more than $8 million taxpayer dollars that have gone to, essentially, subsidizing subscriptions to Politico on the American taxpayers dime, will no longer be happening," Leavitt said.
"The DOGE team is working on canceling those payments now," she continued. "This is a whole government effort to assure that we are going line by line when it comes to the federal government’s books."
Many Politico employees typically receive direct deposit every other Tuesday, but this week they woke up and noticed the funds didn’t hit their account. An employee told Fox News Digital that management didn’t communicate about the issue until 9 a.m., when they chalked it up as a "technical error."
According to the employee, many concerns went unaddressed as panicked Politico staffers expressed worry about paying bills and being hit with overdraft fees from their banks. Politico's management eventually insisted it was a technical error between the bank and payroll providers and that everyone would be paid by the end of the day.
The employees were eventually paid, but it didn’t appear as "pending" until after 5 p.m. ET and didn’t clear until Wednesday morning, according to the impacted staffer. The employee said there is internal concern that the late paychecks and the government cracking down on excess spending were somehow connected.
Leavitt was asked about reports that "media outlets" will be impacted by Elon Musk’s plan to cut funding for U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Politico received at least $8.2 million from the U.S. government in recent years, with $44,000 of that coming from USAID, according to USAspending.gov.
"Upon coming out here to the briefing room, I was made aware of the funding from USAID to media outlets, including Politico, who I know has a seat in this room, and I can confirm that the more than $8 million taxpayer dollars that have gone to, essentially, subsidizing subscriptions to Politico on the American taxpayers dime, will no longer be happening," Leavitt said.
"The DOGE team is working on canceling those payments now," she continued. "This is a whole government effort to assure that we are going line by line when it comes to the federal government’s books."
Many Politico employees typically receive direct deposit every other Tuesday, but this week they woke up and noticed the funds didn’t hit their account. An employee told Fox News Digital that management didn’t communicate about the issue until 9 a.m., when they chalked it up as a "technical error."
According to the employee, many concerns went unaddressed as panicked Politico staffers expressed worry about paying bills and being hit with overdraft fees from their banks. Politico's management eventually insisted it was a technical error between the bank and payroll providers and that everyone would be paid by the end of the day.
The employees were eventually paid, but it didn’t appear as "pending" until after 5 p.m. ET and didn’t clear until Wednesday morning, according to the impacted staffer. The employee said there is internal concern that the late paychecks and the government cracking down on excess spending were somehow connected.
70-79, M
